Open Rafter Ceilings

You cannot overstate the beauty of an open rafter ceiling in a home (one where you can see the wooden beams that support the roof). The problem with them in Turkey is that they are rare and if done, most builders sacrafice important insulation considerations in order to use them. In this case, as is the case in many buildings here, either the heat in winter time or the cool air in summer time disappears quickly because there is no insulation. The solution that I use is to build a separate frame on top of the roof in order to create a cavity where I can place the insultation material. In this way you can enjoy the beauty of open rafter ceilings and keep your house warm in the winter time.

The Beyler House in Seferihisar is an amazing example of this. Because I already used two frames for the support of the roof, instead of adding more wood on top for the insulation cavities I developed the upside down ‘T’ beam that you can see in the pictures of the ceiling. Above the 12 pole reciprocal frame you can see 39 separate wooden beams in a conical form. Those are actually inverted ‘T’ beams. So you only see the underside of them (the top of the ‘T’) and not the part that holds the abundant quantities of insulation.